Balázs Zágoni - author of books for children
and young readers

Balázs Zágoni is an award-winning writer for children and young audiences, who has so far written 15 books. He lives in Romania, but his mother-tongue is Hungarian. Some of his books have been translated in their entirety to Czech, and some excepts into English, German and Romanian languages.

His book, The Sphere (Black Light Series 1) received the Best Young Adult Fiction Prize HUBBY (Hungarian IBBY) in 2019. Balázs has also been the recipient of the Éva Janikovszky Prize for Outstanding Literary Achievement and the Contemporary Transylvanian Hungarian Culture Prize.

Balázs writes:

“My children made me a writer. This was not the plan, but now I’m glad it turned out this way. Everything started with the Barni-books. A bit later came the Treasure Book Series and the Hi(stories) of Cluj.

As my children grew, I tried to grow with them as a writer; and so I find I’ve become a young adult author. This is how the Black Light Series was born, as well as Christmas Detour and Hollywood by the Szamos River. This last book combines my love for both my city Cluj and for film history.

My newest novel, The Star and the Captain is set in Budapest and tells the story of two young boys, whose friendship comes under enormous pressure during the decisive year of 1944.”